Welsh-only names for most new Senedd seats revealed

New large constituencies planned for the Senedd will mostly be referred to by a Welsh-language only name, under new proposals.

Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru says only four of the 16 seats for the next election in 2026 will have bilingual names.

It has revised its plans for how the the new, bigger Welsh Parliament constituencies will be organised, with a second consultation seeking the views of the public.

The larger seats are needed because the Senedd will have a new voting system to elect 36 more politicians than at present.

A constituency that stretches from the Llŷn Peninsula in the west to Wales' border with England is among the proposals announced last September.

As well as new names, proposals for seats in Cardiff have been changed, with the commission set to make its final decision on the map next March.

Former Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said the move to have mostly Welsh names was "quite wrong".

The Welsh language society, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, welcomed the changes: "Welsh is the unique national language of Wales, and we should be proud of it."

Currently, most Westminster and Senedd constituencies are bilingual, with a couple referred to only by their Welsh-names - Ynys Môn and Caerfyrddin.

But under the law for the new Senedd, each constituency in Wales will have a single monolingual name, unless the commission decides that to do so would be unacceptable.

If there is a single name, that name can only be in Welsh.

The commission has promised to use a Welsh-language only name "where possible".

There will be fewer constituencies than currently, with the commission using the 32 Westminster constituencies as the basis to draw up 16 super-constituencies, which will elect six Members of the Senedd (MSs) each.

A new closed list voting system will elect them roughly in proportion to how people voted.

Because existing Westminster constituencies are being paired seats in sparsely populated areas have to be geographically large.

In their report, the commission said a Welsh-language name was acceptable for use in English if it was likely to be recognisable to those who do not speak Welsh.

But if the name includes a geographic designation such as north, south, west or east, the commission would not find the Welsh version acceptable.

Four seats - mostly in Swansea and Cardiff - have been given bilingual names for that reason.

The rest are Welsh-only.

Some, such as Ceredigion Penfro and Sir Gâr, have been found acceptable as they are used by councils in the area.

The names have also been shortened from the original plans.

These proposals are for the 2026 election. The commission will be looking at them again before the election after that - in 2030.

In north Wales, the seat originally proposed as Bangor, Aberconwy and Ynys Môn will be named Bangor Conwy Môn.

Clwyd's name will remain the same, while Alyn, Deeside and Wrexham will be named Fflint Wrecsam instead.

A large seat that was originally named Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, will instead be named Gwynedd Maldwyn.

Maldwyn is the historical Welsh language name of Montgomery.

The name of Brecon, Radnor, Neath and Swansea East will be simplified to South Powys Tawe Neath, or De Powys Tawe Nedd in Welsh.

In west Wales, the proposed seat of Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire will instead be called Ceredigion Penfro - using the Welsh-language name of the South West Wales council.

Carmarthenshire will instead be given the Welsh-only name Sir Gâr.

In south Wales, the seat of Swansea West Gower will have a bilingual name, known in Welsh as Gorllewin Abertawe Gŵyr.

The seat originally called Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare and Pontypridd will be given the Welsh-only name Merthyr Cynon Taf.

Aberafan Maesteg Rhondda and Ogmore is known under the revised proposals as Afan Ogwr Rhondda.

Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend will be Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, while Blaenau Gwent, Rhymney and Caerphilly will be Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni.

Newport and Islwyn will be known by the Welsh-only Casnewydd Islwyn. Monmouthshire and Torfaen will be given the name Mynwy Torfaen.

Andrew RT Davies, who resigned as Welsh Conservative leader two weeks ago, said: "This move is quite wrong. Wales is bilingual, and this move will disenfranchise English-only speakers."

The Tory MS for South Wales Central said: "While it may suit some parts of Wales to have Welsh-only names, places like the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend are majority English-speaking and the constituency names should reflect this."

Siân Howys, vice chair of the Welsh-language society, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, said it was pleased to see the proposals.

She said: "Welsh is the unique national language of Wales, and we should be proud of it, use it and promote it so that seeing and hearing Welsh words and placenames becomes normal.

"We will continue to press in our response to the new proposals for also using the Welsh language for the four current exceptions - in Caerdydd and Abertawe.

"It would be possible to give names that do not include compass directions, so that they do not need to be translated, for example Gwyr-Tawe instead of Swansea West Gower."

Responding to the criticism from Davies, the commission said: "In developing these proposed names, the commission took the view that in most cases, monolingual names would be acceptable.

"However, this is why we ask for responses to our consultations. The commission remains very open to making further changes depending on the feedback we receive so we would encourage everyone with a view, whether they support or oppose our proposed constituency names, to let us know."

Plaid Cymru, in its consultation response, said it has "concerns about the geographic size of some of the proposed constituencies, especially in rural areas".

It said it hoped some of the seats could be reduced in size in time for the 2030 election.

Welsh Labour supported the initial proposals, but proposed to pair Cardiff South and Penarth and Cardiff East, and also Cardiff North and Cardiff West.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats said it regretted the review "did not have the power to recommend a change to the proposed voting system."

"We believe the closed list system removes significant power from voters and concentrates it into the hands of party officials."

Meanwhile the Welsh Conservatives supported 12 of the 16 proposals, but suggested changes elsewhere, including matching up the Vale of Glamorgan with Cardiff South and Penarth.

"Historically, the Vale has been politically linked with Cardiff, this pairing would also keep the Vale of Glamorgan Council area to one constituency instead of two," it said.

Most of the seats in the boundary review have not changed since the last consultation, the revised proposals see changes to the commission's original plans in Cardiff.

It had planned to match up Cardiff North with Cardiff East, and Cardiff South and Penarth with Cardiff West.

But it has now switched them around following the consultation.

Most of those who got in touch gave their support for the original proposals.

But commissioners wanted to reunite the student-dominated ward of Cathays with the rest of the former Cardiff Central constituency.

They argued there were strong transport links between Cardiff North and Cardiff West, as well as linguistic and historic ties.

The seats will have bilingual names - Cardiff South-east Penarth, or De-ddwyrain Caerdydd Penarth, and Cardiff North-west, or Gogledd-orllewin Caerdydd.

Elsewhere, the commission has decided to retain its plan to merge Ynys Môn with Bangor Aberconwy, despite some proposing the Anglesey seat be merged with Dwyfor Meirionydd.

"The commission acknowledges that there are stronger linguistic, cultural and historical links between the Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Ynys Môn constituencies and the number of representations supporting the pairing of these two areas," it said.

But the law requires direct road and transport links, which the commission said "restricts the available options".

More than 3,700 submissions were made to the commission's last consultation, although many were not about the boundaries themselves.

It said it received 1,115 about the change in the number of constituencies, the increase in the MSs and the planned change in the voting system, which the commission was unable to consider as the matter was out of its remit.

Chief executive of the commission, Shereen Williams, said the body was open to making further changes "depending on the representations we receive".

The consultation closes on 13 January 2025.